23 July 2012

Blog Tour : The House of Arkhangel'sk (The Fallen Queen and The Midnight Court) by Jane Kindred (Guest Post + Giveaway)

I've heard so many awesome things about Jane Kindred's The Fallen Queen and I'm absolutely honored to have her here today. Thanks to Entangled and Jane, one of you could win an e-book copy of The Fallen Queen following Jane' s guest post.

Until her cousin slaughtered the supernal family, Anazakia’s father ruled the Heavens, governing noble Host and Fallen peasants alike. Now Anazakia is the last grand duchess of the House of Arkhangel’sk, and all she wants is to stay alive.

Hunted by Seraph assassins, Anazakia flees Heaven with two Fallen thieves—fire demon Vasily and air demon Belphagor, each with their own nefarious agenda—who hide her in the world of Man. The line between vice and virtue soon blurs, and when Belphagor is imprisoned, the unexpected passion of Vasily warms her through the Russian winter.

Heaven seems a distant dream, but when Anazakia learns the truth behind the celestial coup, she will have to return to fight for the throne—even if it means saving the man who murdered everyone she loved.

Between Demons.

The House of Arkhangel’sk series centers around an angel named Anazakia, who finds herself, through circumstances mostly beyond her control, in the company of demons. She belongs to the supernal (or imperial) dynasty of Heaven, while demons represent the bottom rung of celestial society—in other words, peasant stock.

Much of my story is about class differences and the artificial distinctions of “breeding” between similar groups of people, when the real distinctions are ones of money and power, and the demonizing of those who live on the fringes. Grand Duchess Anazakia is raised to believe that she’s superior to the Fallen race, that her way of life is normal, while theirs is aberrant and inferior. She soon discovers that she doesn’t know much about life at all, having been so sheltered she’s unaware of how much of her own race lives, let alone the Fallen.

Belphagor and Vasily, the demons she’s forced to flee Heaven with after becoming the only survivor of a violent celestial coup, are unlike anyone she’s ever encountered, and she suspects the worst of them, but by the end of Book One, The Fallen Queen, the three have forged an unbreakable bond.

A love triangle wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I set out to write this series, but as most writers will tell you, characters usually have minds of their own. I had originally thought Anazakia and Belphagor would get together, and in the beginning of Book One, so did she. But as the story progressed, I noticed there was something between Belphagor and Vasily I hadn’t recognized at first. Initially written as a thuggish sidekick, Vasily turned out to be far more important to Belphagor than I’d realized. Somehow, these characters came to my story with their own complicated history and emotional ties that even an ugly breakup and an extended estrangement hadn’t managed to sever.

The relationship between my demons involves consensual power exchange, and it’s the tough and burly Vasily who submits to the much less physically imposing Belphagor. Vasily craves the security of belonging completely to Belphagor and the release of transforming his emotional pain into physical, while Belphagor has his own insecurities that only Vasily’s willing submission and devotion to him can quell. They’re a match made in Heaven.

Sheltered innocent Anazakia watches this dynamic develop between the demons as she gets to know them, and misunderstands it completely. It’s her desire to protect Vasily from what she perceives as abuse that leads to her eventual attraction to him. What results is something none of them expected.

By the time Book Two begins, the three of them have been through hell and back (though most of that “hell” takes place in Heaven), and they’ve settled into a somewhat uneasy triad, but their feelings for one another, while complicated, are genuine and deep. They’re just starting to get to know each other as members of an unconventional, but destined family. So of course, it was my duty to immediately tear them apart.

Jane Kindred began writing fantasy at age 12 in the wayback of a Plymouth Fury—which, as far as she recalls, never killed anyone…who didn’t have it coming. She spent her formative years ruining her eyes reading romance novels in the Tucson sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. Although she was repeatedly urged to learn a marketable skill, she received a B.A. in Creative Writing anyway from the University of Arizona.
She now writes to the sound of San Francisco foghorns while two cats slowly but surely edge her off the side of the bed.

13 comments:

I am so not sure Angel or Demon I feel like I have read more Angel novels than Demon so I guess Angel but I would like to read more Demon ones!My favorite I would say the Mortal Instruments if that counts and it has a little bit of both!

Angels or demons? I don't know if I could possibly pick! I love books with both! My current favourite angel/demon based urban fantasy books are the Fallen Angels series by J.R. Ward and Gena Showalter's Lords of the Underworld series.

Followers

Follow via Networked Blogs.

Google+ Followers

Linky Followers.

Follow via Blog Lovin'

Instagram

Notice

In accordance with FTC guidelines/regulations for bloggers and endorsements, please note that all the books reviewed on this blog were either purchased by me or provided to me by the author/publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased review and nothing else. I gain nothing in return for the review other than the book itself. My reviews reflect my honest opinion and remain uninfluenced despite the source(s) through which I obtained the book(s) . I would also like to disclose that this blog is signed up with The Book Depository and Amazon Affiliate Program. I will earn a small percentage of any purchase made through this blog on their sites.